Hi, I’ve heard that financial aid will often be significantly lower for students who apply early decision, but what about at schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need? Will the aid be lower for ED applicants than RD applicants at these schools? I know the aid is a mixture grant and loans. If the financial aid amount for ED students is the same, do you think a greater percent would be in the form of loans? Thanks for your answers.
(I plan on applying to Northwestern Early Decision)
If the school promises to meet need then the calculation should not be different for an ED vs. an RD student. But if you really need the FA then the disadvantage to applying ED is you don’t get to compare FA offers. Even among schools that meet need there can be significant differences in what is given.
Meeting 100% of demonstrated need does not necessarily mean you go 100% free. A school’s definition of need may not jibe with your definition of need.
I recommend a call to an AdCom at NU to ask them the question. I can tell you that I have 1 kid admitted RD and one admitted ED and the FinAid was pretty close to the same - unfortunately, results are skewed because EFC went up in between kids… Damn You Economic Recovery and Raises!
Thank you all for your answers. @nugraddad you definitely have some smart kids! That’s nice to know that the financial aid was similar for both children, but do you know if your ED admitted student will graduate with more loans than your RD admitted child? Like, maybe the amount of aid is the same for both but ED students get more loans vs grant aid? Also, thank you for mentioning the NU Adcom. I may call if I still have some questions.
@nugraddad you could have turned down the raise… 
Have you run the Net Price Calculator for Northwestern and found that the results are workable for your family?
@hs2015mom I’ve tried to do some of those (not for Northwestern, though), but I don’t know any of the financial information for my family. I can ask my mom to try that though. The financial aid shouldn’t be a problem at Northwestern whether I apply ED or RD. I was just wondering if the thing about financial aid not being as good for ED was true for schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need. It sounds like there won’t be a difference in the ED and RD financial aid at Northwestern, though. Thank you for mentioning the net price calculator. I kinda forgot about those. xD
Sizzle- Unfortunately, my ED and RD kids situations are different - RD kid did co-op, paid down loans with the pay, then paid off remaining loans in 1 year. ED will have more in loans - because no co-op. As hs2015mom mentioned - do the price calculator to give yourself a better idea of your family’s situation.
For a full-needs-met school, there shouldn’t be a difference in the aid offered between RD and ED. I’ve never heard of this happening, but in a merit-aid scenario, one could imagine lower awards to ED applicants because they’ve already committed to going, so why entice them? It’s a hypothetical, and doesn’t apply anyway to Northwestern, which gives need-based aid.
@hs2015mom Yeah, I saw Northwestern doesn’t give any merit aid, and that’s fine by me since I wouldn’t be able to get any merit aid at a school like Northwesrern anyways. xD Thanks for all your answers.